An Answer to the Political Minded Scholars with a Realistic Vision of Asceticism and Renunciation in Islamic Mysticism
Subject Areas : Christianity
عبدالرضا
Mazaheri
1
(دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی، واحد تهران مرکزی، گروه ادیان و عرفان)
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Abstract :
In Islam mystical thought is also political. Sufis and monasteries had an essential role in maintaining the security, prosperity and political growth of Iran, and it seems that the reason for political backwardness of Iran, specially after the Mogul invasion, was of cultural origin, not the asceticism and renunciation on the part of Sufis. Mystics turned into asceticism in search of spiritual soundness for themselves and for the society, and through this they were going to help people. They were the best psychologists of the society, since through reporting various states of spiritual wayfaring, they proposed the solution for reforming both the individual and the society. Concepts such as seclusion in congregation, the law of synthesis shows the way of being present in the society and enjoying the world, alongside of being an ascetic. In short, the way to intuitive wisdom starts from acquired knowledge and goes through asceticism and renunciation.
